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Rosemountís Elder decides to return to racingPosted: 9/20/02 by Todd Abeln You can have your future all mapped out and then, all of a sudden, it changes. That is what happened to Rosemountís Christian Elder July 13 in Chicago. Elder, driving his No. 38 Great Clips car in the NASCAR Busch Series, was trying to qualify for the Tropicana Twister 300 when he lost control of his car and hit the wall going 175 miles per hour. In that accident, Elder suffered a broken collarbone, three cracked ribs, sprained wrists and swollen legs and ankles. He hasnít been in a stock car since. But just this past week, Elder announced he is leaving the Busch Series and headed toward a new career path. Elder, in town for the Great Clips 20th anniversary celebration, announced that next year he will be racing in the SCCA Speedworld Challenge Series. The SCCA Speedworld Challenge Series is a road-racing series that goes all over the United States and Canada. All races are televised on the cable channel Speedworld. ìThe reason Iím kind of changing my career path or taking a new career path is that I had a horrific accident in Chicago, so I really need to stay away from concrete walls for a while,î Elder said. ìItís a pretty prestigious series. Itís not like taking a big step down from the Busch Series.î The first race of the series for Elder will be next March in Florida. Elder is taking his sponsor Great Clips with him to the SCCA Speedworld Challenge Series and has even lined up a manufacturer. Mazda told him it will give him full factory backing when it found out that a regular Busch Series driver is moving to its road-race series. ìThe full factory backing includes free cars, free engine builds, all the body parts we can handle and a free show car,î Elder said. ìJust a lot of things that are really exciting. Itís a good start to a good relationship.î Even though Elder has been driving stock cars most of his life, he doesnít think the switch will be that big of a challenge. In fact, just last Wednesday Elder went to Brainerd International Raceway and tested a car on its road race. It was Elderís first time in a race car since his accident. At Brainerd, he turned 25 laps in a car he had never seen before at a track he had never before experienced. In the final five laps, his time was good enough to put him on the pole for the last race at Brainerd. ìItís nice to come down to a corner at 140 miles per hour and thereís no concrete wall looking at you,î Elder said. The crash Elderís crash in Chicago is one of the worst crashes in NASCAR history. It happened during qualifying for the race and Elder was struggling to get into the event. In practice, the No. 38 Great Clips team ran in 33rd position. So during qualifying, Elder was trying to get everything he could out of the car and drove it really hard. Coming into turn one, he lost control of the car and it slammed into the wall at a 45-degree angle at 175 mph. Elder was knocked unconscious and didnít regain consciousness until he was getting loaded into the helicopter to be taken to the hospital. ìI struggled quite a bit of the year trying to get a handle on my car and we were right on the border at Chicago of making the race and not making the race. I think I practiced at 33rd. So when I went out to qualify, I knew I had to make something happen to make sure I got the car in the show,î he said. ìBasically, I probably over-drove the car a little bit to try to make something happen and lost control going into turn one and couldnít get it back. ìIt was a heck of a crash. Itís the highest recorded crash since NASCAR started to put the black box in the cars. It was like walking away from a plane crash.î The crash made Elder take a look at his life and his career. ìAfter my accident, I needed a different path to my career, so I went to Great Clips and made a proposal to run the Speedworld Challenge Series and they thought it was awesome,î Elder said. He decided to continue racing, but that was after some thinking. He thought about quitting racing and joining his dadís construction company, Elder-Jones Inc. ìOver the next couple of weeks, I just decided Iím 33, I could do a lot of other things with my life other than race,î Elder said. But he got the urge back and found a racing series he liked and thought would be safe for him. The future Nobody knows what the future holds for them and that goes for Elder, too. Right now, he is just happy to be back behind the wheel with the opportunity to race again. But will he work his way back to NASCAR? ìIím not saying I wonít be back in stock cars. Iím not ruling it out in the future, but Iím not saying Iím coming back either,î Elder said. ìIím going to run this road-racing series for a while and I know Iím going to thoroughly enjoy it.î For the immediate future, Elder is going to work on winning the Rookie of the Year in the SCCA Speedworld Challenge Series and win as many races as he can. This new venture also brings him into the world of car ownership. He is going to own half of the racing team with his dad. ìWe will have a lot more hands-on control of exactly what happens,î Elder said. © Thisweek Newspapers |
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